The post is one in a series of Q&A interviews with members of the online "Treme" community. It contains season one spoilers.

HBO'Treme.'

NPR's "A Blog Supreme" is essential reading even when "Treme" isn't on, and becomes more so in-season.

The episodic musical excursions by Patrick Jarenwattananon and Josh Jackson provide deep background on the players and what they're playing. Bookmark it now.

Who are you and why and what do you blog about “Treme”?

Jarenwattananon: Patrick Jarenwattananon. Among other things at NPR Music, I run A Blog Supreme, which is the jazz blog of our little public media enterprise. We decided to write about the music of Treme after every episode because 1) there's a general sense that the music of New Orleans means so much to jazz -- and to American music in general -- and it's important to tease out the ways that works 2) the show was something that a lot of people would be talking about, being a David Simon TV enterprise 3) we have a working relationship with Josh Jackson at WBGO, a friend and mentor who grew up in NOLA and worked for a few years at WWOZ.

Jackson: I’m Josh Jackson, Special Projects Producer for WBGO. I make a lot of stuff for jazz in public media – for New York metro radio listeners, subscribers to my podcast, The Checkout, and NPR Music visitors. I blog about the music of Treme because I love music and the cultural heritage of New Orleans and South Louisiana. This kind of acute, compulsive adoration translates much better to the blogosphere than in real life conversations with strangers.

Where and how often?

Jarenwattananon: Once a week, recapping the music of episodes -- plus other links and tidbits when they arise.

Jackson: We write one post per episode for A Blog Supreme. Patrick is a smart guy, so he asks me a lot of hard questions. I pull out my handy decoder ring to elucidate all of the deeply ecrypted subtext buried in these shows.

Who reads the posts?

Jarenwattananon: The regular A Blog Supreme audience and NPR.org audience too, since it's promoted throughout the site. But I get the sense -- and I'm honored by this, deeply -- that a few New Orleanians who care check it regularly too. By our third episode, I had noticed that Eric Overmeyer, one of the series' co-founders, was leaving comments. So that's pretty cool.

Jackson: I don’t have any hard analytics. I can only imagine that the readers must subscribe to some core values of public media. They value authenticity, context, and meaningful information. They don’t mind reading something with a point of view, even if it takes them a while to digest. They have great attention spans for an internet audience, because these posts are long!

What kind of reaction do your posts get from readers and commenters?

Jarenwattananon: The reaction has been great, actually. I think Treme puts a lot to be unpacked on the table, and the show gets around to unraveling only a little bit of it directly. So there's a hunger for the backstories behind the music -- and for analysis in general -- which I think comes across in the comments. As you may know, HBO asked Josh and I to record audio commentaries about the music for the DVD release of season one, so someone up there likes it too!

Jackson: The response has been positive overall. I think it’s been successful enough to make us want to do it for another season.

Do you tweet? If so, what’s your handle?

Jarenwattananon: Sure. Find us at @blogsupreme

Jackson: I do. @checkoutjazz

What’s your connection to New Orleans, if any?

Jarenwattananon: I must admit, not much. I made my first drinking age visit to the city in 2010, covering Jazzfest for NPR Music, and it was revelatory and joyous and devastating but mostly revelatory and joyous. I rely a lot on Josh for the local color; I'm usually just doing some deep thinking and trying to ask good questions.

Jackson: Where to begin? Mom’s family were Mid-City Italians. My great-grandparents, Norvel and Madeline Koludrovich Jackson, used to live near Fats Domino in the 9th Ward. They actually knew him, which is one of the million reasons I’d like to talk to him someday – to see if he actually remembers them. Anyway, they moved to New Orleans from Plaquemines Parish, the ancestral home. Most of my family now lives in Lafourche Parish, aside from a few stragglers remaining in St. Bernard. I grew up in St. Charles Parish, in the palindrome metropolis along the Mississippi - Ama. I’m about as South Louisiana as they come. Raised Catholic. I can make a roux. Married a girl from the West Bank. However, I just turned thirty-seven, which means that I’ve now spent more than half my life out of Louisiana. So I’m losing cred.

I worked at WWOZ from 1996-2000. My first job there was board operator for Betty “Big Mama” Rankin. She told the most amazing stories during her show, Moldy Fig Jam. I still give her a lot of credit for making me realize that what I really love about jazz was not just the music but also the lives of the people who made it. Radio is still a good medium for that. Bob French brought me to places I never expected to go in life. Like Dave Bartholomew’s house. Harold Dejan’s living room. George Buck let me raid his music collection near the French Market. I met men who volunteered their time to play jazz on the radio - Don “Moose” Jamison, K Balewa, Michael Gourrier and Clinton Scott. Especially Lewis White, who really believed in my potential as a professional broadcaster. These cats had knowledge, and they were generous. The incredible musicians I met, many of whom are now gone. I’m only talking about the jazz people. Billy Delle! I could do this for a while. There are so many remarkable individuals to thank during my formative experience at WWOZ. I think very fondly of them all.

There are even some gratuitous connections to folks involved in the Treme series. I was Eric Overmyer’s neighbor when I lived on Kerlerec Street, though I never knew that until I talked to him last year. Tom Piazza and I lived in separate halves of the same double on Plum Street. No one ever complained that the music was too loud.

Have you noticed that “Treme” is not “The Wire”?

Jarenwattananon: Yes, for sure. The Wire seems to have more of a central narrative; Treme seems to revolve more around individual story arcs. The Wire is about the American every-city of the 2000s; Treme is too in a sense, but it couldn't possibly take place anywhere except post-Katrina New Orleans. Plus, The Wire is a bit more grim and unrelenting, almost doomed in its cyclical dysfunction; for its many tragedies, Treme seems like it's about the power of culture to persist even when government dysfunction is crippling. Flowers rise through the cracks in the pavement, etc.

But in exacting realism and a commitment to demonstrating how race, class and power work in American cities -- I'd say they're similar there.

Jackson: I have, but who wants two different things to be the same? I do, however, think David Simon has a way with showing people what’s behind the mask. Baltimore and New Orleans have completely different historical records, but you can find the raw material of great drama anywhere people live. Making characters come alive is the part that takes skill. I see that in each series.

When is “Treme” at its best?

Jarenwattananon: Music is clearly the heart of this enterprise, and in large part, of New Orleans, it seems. And almost everything involving live music and depictions of musicians forms such a great lens into the city. Musicians are often a bit wary (at best) of the people who depict them in either art or journalism, as well they should be; the fact that musicians appreciate this series says a lot to me.

Jackson: When it shows not only what’s beautiful about the culture, but also when it breaks the skin a little. New Orleans has its share of ugly.

When isn’t “Treme” at its best?

Jarenwattananon: The show seems less convincing when it wears its polemic on its sleeve -- say, if Ladonna or Chief Lambreaux or Creighton gets frustrated with something, and starts essentially soapboxing in so many four-letter words. Of course, artless as it may seem, it's hard to say that such complaints weren't frequently aired in real life circa 2005-06 either ...

Jackson: I sometimes feel like there are greater forces than Katrina that have played a significant outcome in the narrative of New Orleans. I’m not in any way diminishing the very real tragedy of that event. I just wish Treme gave me a better sense of the events before Katrina. There were stress cracks in the social contract long before 2005. Some are as old as colonialism and its discontents.

What were your favorite moments from season one, musical or otherwise?

Jarenwattananon: Oof. I've never been to Mardi Gras, but the pacing of that entire episode -- plus the mix of music, character drama and debauchery -- seemed just about right for what I imagine Mardi Gras to be.

Jackson: I’m a sucker for the way much of the music is presented in Treme. Generally, the music is one part of a larger something, as opposed to just being the thing itself. My favorite music moment is watching Allen Toussaint, Dave Bartholomew, Irma Thomas, and Lloyd Price together. I watched the music rehearsals that day at Generations Hall. Everyone on the set was working so hard, and I just felt like I was attending the greatest concert ever.

Favorite character(s)?

Jarenwattananon: All the female leads, it seems, land especially great roles. But the bumbling about of Wendell Pierce's Batiste seems especially true to me; what a brilliantly frustrating combination of recidivism + respect + vulnerability + saltiness.

Jackson: Ladonna.

What are your expectations for season two?

Jarenwattananon: I would think that by now, the team has gotten a good sense of what works and what doesn't, and what stories (and musical communities) need to be represented more. But in terms of whether the show will still hold our collective interest -- especially for those of us outside New Orleans -- I think journalistically speaking, it'd be best if I expect nothing.

Jackson: I’ve been really good about keeping my expectations out of the equation. New Orleans has enough experts – real and imagined. I’m just trying to watch and listen.

Dave Walker can be reached at dwalker@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3429. Read more TV coverage at nola.com/tv. Follow him at twitter.com/davewalkertp.